The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1887-08-31
The Boys Lunch.

once stood by farmhouse table
while lunch was being thrown together
for a boy of twelve or thirteen, who
was only waiting for that to be off to
school. The pail was large enough to
hold dinners for three or four children,
and whatever was put into it could not
fail of being jolted into fragments in
the mile and a half journey it must take
in the hands of an energetic boy. Two
thick, irregular slices of brown-bread
were spread hastily with butter, placed
together and deposited in the bottom.
Then in went cold sausage, left from
the family breakfast, and huge cucum-
Der pickle. A wedge of dried-apple pie
crowned the whole, the cover was
pushed on, and the boy, who had stood
by with look of disgust on his face
which he was too well disciplined to
put into words picked up his pail and
started for school, pausing just outside
the door to supplement his repast with
half a dozen half-ripe sweet apples.
On the same table stood a basket of de-
lcious looking Bartlett pears and
another of snowy fresh eggs, but those
were for market, and the farmer was
already Harvesting to take them there.
In the pantry was generous piece of
cold roast beef, and in the cake cup
board was a store of crisp seed-cakes
and delicate cup-cakes, not to mention
loaves of pound and fruit-cake, but all
those were for expected company.
What if they were? There were plenty
for the company and the boy, too. If l
had been preparing that boys midday
/ al 7 ha1 n hac
of suitable size, if had bought one
especially for the purpose. a stout lit
tie basket would have withstood the
boys banging as well as the pail, and
perhaps if it had been pretty basket
with lid he would not have banged it
so much. Then | would have lined the
bottom with clean, white paper, fresh
piece every morning. | would have
cut the brown-bread thinly and evenly,
! buttered it as neatly as possible, in
serted some of the cold meat between
the slices, and wrapped them firmly in
some more of the same white paper. |
would have boiled couple of those
eggs, and tied up little paper of min
| gled salt and pepper to season them. |
would have made another little parcel of
two or three seed-cakes, or cup-cake or
two added, one or two of those lovely
pears, and covered the whole with nap
kin, if it were only made from the end
of a WORKOUT table-coth. In short, if
my boy had to carry his dinner to
school he should find bit of his moth
er's loving thought for him in the bot
tom of the basket. Then would have
enjoined the boy to shake the crumbs
out of his basket, fold up his papers
and napkin neatly, and lay them therein
and bring them safely home again. Too
much bother to make about boy?
am not so certain of that Girls pick up
the little graces of life naturally, but
one has often to make pride for boys.
Then Just as little child will often
behave better whole afternoon for
being " dressed up," putting off mis-
chief and noise with the Bingham morn
ing apron and putting on mildness and
docility with the clean collar and
freshly-polished shoes, so l think
oftentimes the carefully put up lunch is
more daintily eaten, with more regard
for the proprieties and amenities. And
that is always something in the bring
ing up of boys.-H. Annette Poole, IN
Good Housekeeping.